POLL Other states have open primary system; would it work in Florida?

Supervisor of Elections Jennifer Edwards reaches to randomly choose an electronic voting machine for logic and accuracy testing during a public Canvassing Board Committee meeting at the Collier County Supervisor of Elections office on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 in Naples. The tests - required by Florida law - were run on 19 random DS200 electronic voting machines and 10 random Ivotronic machines which are used by hearing and visually impaired voters. There are 45 different ballots used in Collier County and each were tested on the machines. The results of the tests matched the predetermined figures. Lexey Swall/Staff

Floridians will have a lot of choices to make when they go to the polls Tuesday — maybe more than they expect.

There will be 10 names on their U.S. Senate ballot, along with seven write-in candidates who qualified in the race. On their ballot for governor, Floridians will find seven names. There also is one write-in candidate in the gubernatorial race.

They'll find candidates affiliated with the Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Constitution, Whig and Independence parties, along with several candidates running without party affiliation. The Senate race in particular has the potential to produce a victor who won't win a majority of the votes.

Confusing? Yes.

Inevitable? Not necessarily.

In June, voters in California passed a measure to do away with traditional primary elections in that state. Instead, starting in 2011, California will have a wide-open primary for all registered candidates, no matter their party affiliation. If no candidate wins a majority, the top two vote-getters face off in the November general election.

Peter Burns, a political scientist at Loyola University New Orleans, said it shifts power away from the political parties, which is a big reason why they hate it. The smaller parties tend not to like it because there is a good chance they won't have a candidate on the November ballot.

"It is possible to have two Democrats or two Republicans run against one another," Burns said, noting that sometimes the two best candidates in a race come from the same party.

Opponents say top-two primaries benefit incumbents and wealthy candidates. Proponents say they help independent and moderate candidates, ensure the victor in the general election has a majority of the vote, and have the potential to draw more interest to primary elections.

In Florida about 20 percent of registered voters turn out for primaries.

By a 2 to 1 margin, Floridians voted in 1998 to open party primary elections to all voters, regardless of their political affiliation

By a 2 to 1 margin, Floridians voted in 1998 to open party primary elections to all voters, regardless of their political affiliation. The Florida Division of Elections later issued an advisory opinion saying that primary elections are only open if all the candidates in an election come from the same party.

Due to a loophole, a strategic write-in candidate can close a primary race to independents and voters registered with other parties. For example, when write-in candidate Chuck Roth entered the race for Collier County commissioner from District 2, he closed the primary to only registered Republicans.

Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, is a proponent of opening the party primaries in Florida to all voters. Candidates would have to appeal to a wider range of voters, he said.

But neither Jewett nor Burns expect Floridians will see either open primaries or a top-two primary any time soon.

Legislators affiliated with Republican or Democratic parties have little incentive to change the current system, which would take power away from their parties. It most likely would require a wealthy activist or a coalition of good government groups to push and fund a ballot initiative, Jewett said.

"I really would like to see it on the ballot," Jewett said of opening the party primaries. "You don't have to look at primaries as solely a vehicle for the parties and the party regulars and activists to decide who's going to be on the party ballots.

"The more people we have involved, the more accurate the state's views are going to be represented by the people running."